Saturday, December 22, 2007

Who's Been Naughty and Nice (to the Thrashers)

In keeping the holiday spirit I thought it would be interesting to take a look at which teams have "given" the Thrashers points and which teams are the most stingy.

Perception versus reality. So I wrote down my guesses before I ran the numbers. I expected that that the Thrashers toughest opponent (points per game) would be Montreal in the east and Minnesota in the West (whom they have never beaten). My guess for most generous opponent in the East was Washington and Colorado (we're have some very surprising wins against them over the years)

Turns out I was mostly wrong. The Florida Panthers have played Santa Claus to the Thrashers more than any other Eastern Conference Team donating 1.3 points to the Thrashers every team the two clubs have matched up against each other. The second most generous team to Atlanta in the East is the Rangers who fittingly helped the Thrashers end their 0-6 start with a win (thanks again Rangers!). In the Western Conference the Blue Jackets were the biggest gift giver (how appropriate that we play them the day after Christmas!)

The Thrashers Grinch in the East has not been Montreal (much to my surprise) but the Flyers who have been a strong team since the Thrashers came into existence and even last year when the Flyers struggled they still killed the Thrashers. Out West the Wild have only surrendered a single point to Atlanta (perhaps more surprising is that Phoenix has been the 2nd toughest team versus the Thrashers in the West).